“A theory of mine,” she said. “You all can’t leave this place because of a game you signed up for. And I doubt the game will let you go simply because you want to stop it.”
“You speak as though we’re cursed.”
“Maybe you are. Maybe this city is. No one knows what’s going on, so would you really want to risk angering whatever force is keeping you here?”
“We are not cursed.” Mayor Eilin raked a hand through his hair. “We made a bad deal. You can’t go back on a deal around here.”
“Oh?” Lottie scrawled in her notepad. “And why is that?”
Mayor Eilin blinked rapidly, wordless for a moment, before the veins of his neck bulged at her movement. “What are you writing down? You … you can’t publish any of this.” The more she wrote, the more flustered he appeared. “Rayne, she’ll ruin us—stop her!”
“I can’t stop her any more than I can stop a storm with my bare hands,” the man said with affection. His arms crossed in casual defiance.
“I can’t risk more accidents, or more magicians going missing.”
“Magicians go missing all the time. I wonder why you’re only noticing now,” the journalist muttered in mock astonishment. “If you look closer, Mister Mayor, there’s a pattern to the misfortunes that have befallen your show. Four go missing, three have yet to wake, and two…” She trailed off with a quick shudder. “The hunter who works like that—with a system in mind—won’t react well when surprised. You either play this person’s game, or they widen the game board to more victims.”
“Are you suggesting we just stay here, like sitting ducks?”
“You’re already sitting ducks,” she said bluntly. “But if you cut everything this far into the game, you’ll be left with nothing more than a horde of dissatisfied customers, an empty show hall, and a ballroom you’ve spent a fortune trying to renovate.”
The mayor’s jaw clenched. “Of course you’d say so. You’re only here to fill your gossip rag, after all.”
“Gossip rag? You wound me,” Lottie said with razor-edged relish. “Before you doubt me, Mister Mayor, you missed something.” She thrust a piece of paper in his face. “You went straight to pointing fingers and didn’t even check the scene of the crime properly.”
Mayor Eilin’s eyes narrowed on the paper, before his entire face blanched.
“Two of Sight,” the journalist read sharply. “You’ve gotten these before, haven’t you? When those other contestants mysteriously vanished? And the other three magically fell unconscious?”
Everyone regarded each other warily, confusion edging into suspicion. When Daron glanced at Kallia, even her gaze was turned to the ground.
“There’s nothing magical or mysterious about it. If you’re going to point fingers, point them at this.” Lottie flicked the paper in the air, leaving the mayor to struggle to grab it. “Find whoever’s leaving these, and you’ll find your saboteur.”
39
Kallia had never liked Judge Bouquet and Robere, but their pained moans drifted in and out of her ears long after the streets cleared and everyone dispersed for the night.
She fidgeted and wrung her fingers as she and Demarco walked back to their rooms in silence, the tension in the air taut as ever. The mayor hadn’t mentioned throwing her out again, and she wondered if that made Lottie her biggest ally, or the one person who had all the tools to expose her and everyone else in this show.
“You want to talk about it?”
Demarco slowed to keep at her side. New shadows seemed to have formed under his eyes in the last hour. She felt her own carving into her skin, weighing her down. “It’s been a long night. I think we’ve all had enough.”
She wished for nothing more than to walk into her room and sink into bed, but the loneliness of that image hollowed her. Even Demarco paused, simply looking toward his door. “How freeing would it be to leave all this behind and not look back?”
A laugh pulled from her. “Is this you inviting me to run away with you?”
“Would you say yes?”
What an idea, when they had no choice. “Where would we go?”
“Anywhere.” He turned his room key between his fingers. “It doesn’t matter to me. I’ve pretty much toured all of Soltair already, so you get to pick the first city.”
“What if I don’t want to go to a city?” she challenged, a step closer. “What if I want to be out on the water?”
“Then we’ll get ourselves a boat, and see how far it takes us.”